Age of the Media Content Curator

Take a peek at social media and blog posts, these are the days of the curator. These same people are the ones wielding enough power to get content to be seen, heard or read. Media’s next evolution will see the power of the curator or blogger rise.

This rise will give the curator more freedom to post and engage with people on different social networks’, thus gathering mass followings. The curator’s ability to connect on a deeper level with the audience demonstrates how technological advancements have made content creation and distribution easier and inexpensive. The ability for consumers to tap into specific voices will also be critical as more content and more users come online.

The most likely enablers of the age of curation will be today’s social platforms. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat and Linkedin are involved in content creation and distribution. In order for them to stay relevant, they would have to expand their user toolset so that users are able to curate content. This is reinforced by Shachar and Boluk in their online article by stating: http://redef.com/original/age-of-abundance-how-the-content-explosion-will-invert-the-media-industry? “Many online services have invested in centrally- managed human curation feeds in recent months.” An example of this would be Snapchat’s Live Stories, while Instagram has been promoting curated follower lists from top influencers on the platform for months’ now. So could one assume this to be the start of a curated social media platform? The answer to that would be a resounding yes!

With the evolution of curation, curators will move away from simply archiving and preserving commentary. They will be building their own empires through brand extension, licensing partnerships and hiring staff to create and distribute content. Today’s curators are successful and influential because they have relationships with the audience.

For this same reason, many brands will be moving towards a curated mindset to strengthen consumer relationships and establish a unique voice in the age of social media. As curation’s role intensifies, programming will slip further down causing companies to change their existing beliefs, norms and business models. On the other hand, more progressive content owners will create technology and strategies specific influencer- based audience acquisition.

Technology advancement has enabled our tastes to expand, our art to diversify and content to be far reaching. This has had a positive impact as it democratises media and allows for users to escape the limitations of scientific recommendations so as to be become taste makers themselves. The age of the media content curator is sure to be an interesting one, indeed.

Have a look at the full article on the topic: http://redef.com/original/age-of-abundance-how-the-content-explosion-will-invert-the-media-industry?curator=MediaREDEF

You can also follow Liam Boluk @LiamBoluk or email him at liamboluk@gmail.com

And

Tal Shachar @tweettal or email him at tal.shachar@gmail.com